Over at Sengoku Chihiro's apartment, Rita sat on the living room sofa, sipping a beverage and watching TV. "I wonder how things are going over there."
"Didn't you teach Mashiro everything she needed to know? So what are you worried about?" Chihiro raised the can to take a sip, only to realize she hadn't even popped the tab.
"This is Mashiro we're talking about—Mashiro, who can't do a single thing except draw. Even if I taught her everything, there's still a chance something goes sideways, okay?" Rita said, a little anxious.
"If you're that afraid of an accident, then just go back and supervise from the sidelines."
Rita shook her head firmly. "No thanks. If I go back now, I might walk in on something I shouldn't. And even if I don't, I don't want to go back and play the third wheel!"
"Well, since you put it that way, don't overthink it. Get some rest early, and just go check on the results tomorrow."
"Good point. I'll head to bed then. You should turn in early too, Chihiro-neesan—and too much drinking isn't good for you."
"I know, I know."
Morning came quickly.
Since she'd gone to bed early the night before, Rita was up bright and early. Chihiro was up early too. When the two ran into each other in the living room, they both broke into the same awkward-yet-polite smile.
"Chihiro-neesan, how come you're up so early today?"
"I should be the one asking you that. You don't even have class—what are you doing up this early?"
They fell silent for a moment before Chihiro finally spoke. "Forget it, let's not needle each other. Do you want to head over with me and take a look?"
"I do! But are you sure they're up already this early?"
"I don't know about Mashiro, but Mio's definitely up."
That was the confidence born of spending so long around Mio.
Leading Rita out the door, Chihiro reached Mio's place in just a few steps. Even though she had a key Mio had given her, with Mio home she still rang the bell.
A moment later, the door opened. Standing before them was Mio, wearing an apron.
Taking in the two at her door, a flicker of confusion crossed Mio's eyes. "Chihiro-sensei, and Rita—what brings you two over so early? Breakfast isn't ready yet."
"It's fine, I'll just come in and sit. So, is Mashiro up?"
"Still asleep."
Chihiro really wanted to ask Mio whether anything had happened with Mashiro the night before, but on second thought she let it go—even she felt too awkward to ask Mio something like that. Better to ask her own cousin; that'd be more reliable.
"I'll go wake her up then."
"I'll come too."
Watching the two of them practically scramble off, a faint smile crossed Mio's lips. How could she not know why the two of them had come over so early? It was just that nothing had actually happened between her and Mashiro, so there was no need for her to feel nervous.
Meanwhile, the two who'd walked into Mio's room immediately spotted Mashiro still sound asleep in bed.
At the sight, Rita felt a small pang of irritation. Here she'd been so worried she'd barely slept all night, and Mashiro—it was already six thirty and she was still snoring away in bed.
Unable to hold back, Rita placed a hand on Mashiro and shook her hard a few times. Feeling the shaking, Mashiro finally opened her eyes.
She rubbed them, looked at Rita, and said, "Rita, good morning."
"Good morning." Rita answered on reflex, then immediately leaned in close to Mashiro's face, her expression dead serious. "Mashiro, the things I taught you last night—did you do them all?"
"Last night?" Mashiro tilted her head, as if trying to recall something.
After a good while, she said calmly, "I did them all."
"R-really? Including that kind of thing with Shirai Mio—you pulled that off too?" Rita's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Mashiro shook her head. "I wanted to, but I didn't know exactly what to do."
At her words, Rita nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Then again, it made sense—Mashiro had never been exposed to that sort of thing before, so not knowing was only natural. It seemed Rita would have to give her a proper crash course.
Rita hadn't decided where to go today, but after hearing Mashiro out, she settled on it: she'd head to Akihabara and find Mashiro some study materials. In a place like Japan, tracking down that kind of study material should be easy enough.
"So what exactly did you two do last night?"
"Like Rita said, I gave the chocolate to Mio, then kissed her while she was tasting it, and then... then I didn't know what to do."
"All right, so after you kissed Shirai Mio, did she have any special reaction?"
"A little. She blushed."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Even though Mio's reaction seemed a bit underwhelming, no rejection was good news as far as Rita was concerned.
After Rita asked about a few more details, a knock came at the door, followed by Mio's voice: "Excuse me, can I come in?"
"Go right ahead—it's your room, after all."
At Rita's words, Mio pushed the door open and stepped inside. She glanced at the just-woken Mashiro. "Mashiro, since you're up, go wash up quickly."
"Okay."
Mashiro answered obediently and walked out of the room.
Once Mashiro was gone, Mio turned to the two of them. "You two didn't go and teach Mashiro something weird again, did you?"
"N-no, of course not. How could we?" Rita let out two dry chuckles, then pulled Chihiro out of Mio's room with her.
Mio was so pretty, yet just now, when she spoke, she'd radiated such pressure. Was this what they meant when they said you can't judge a person by appearances?
Just then, Rita noticed that on the dining table, besides breakfast and the bento, there was an exquisite gift box beside each breakfast setting. Given that today was Valentine's Day, what was inside them was self-evident.
"Chihiro-sensei, and Rita—happy Valentine's Day."
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